Offer sheet
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In the National Hockey League, an offer sheet is a contract offered to a restricted free agent by a team other than the one for which he played during the prior season. If the player signs the offer sheet, his current team has seven days to match the contract offer and keep the player or else he goes to the team that gave the offer sheet, with compensation going to his first team.
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[edit] Time period
Restricted free agents can discuss new contracts with other teams beginning on the day after that season's draft. Discussions must stop if a player accepts a contract from his own team or is confirmed to go into arbitration with his team, be it player- or team-filed.
[edit] Compensation
When a player accepts an offer sheet and his team declines to match the value of the contract, his former team is entitled to draft pick compensation in future drafts based on the averaged yearly salary of the contract. These values were set for the 2005 offseason, with percentage increases annually equal to the same percentage increase in the average salaries of all NHL players. The 2005 and 2007 offseason values are as follows:
| 2005 Averaged Salary | Current Averaged Salary[1] | Draft Pick Compensation |
|---|---|---|
| $660,000 and below | $773,442 and below | No compensation |
| $660,001 to $1,000,000 | $773,443 to $1,171,882 | Third round pick |
| $1,000,001 to $2,000,000 | $1,171,883 to $2,343,764 | Second round pick |
| $2,000,001 to $3,000,000 | $2,343,765 to $3,515,645 | First and third round pick |
| $3,000,001 to $4,000,000 | $3,515,646 to $4,687,527 | First, second, and third round pick |
| $4,000,001 to $5,000,000 | $4,687,528 to $5,859,412 | Two first round picks and a second and third round pick |
| $5,000,001 and above | $5,859,413 and above | Four first round picks |
A team may not have two different players sign offer sheets at the same time if the value of the offered contracts would involve any of the same draft picks as compensation. For example, if a restricted free agent accepts a contract with a yearly salary of at least $5,859,413, the team can only offer to other restricted free agents contracts less than $2,343,765 per year, since those would not require any first round pick as compensation. In addition, if a team does not have a pick in the next upcoming draft available for compensation, they may not make a contract offer in the certain range where that pick is needed for compensation. Teams may not use draft picks acquired in trades with other teams, but extra acquired draft picks can influence a team's decision to submit an offer sheet.[2]
[edit] Effect of the salary cap
Prior to the 2004-05 NHL lockout, teams could spend as much or as little as they wanted, therefore most offer sheets were matched. This caused offers to restricted free agents to be rare to avoid ill will amongst general managers.[3] Currently, under the rules of the 2005 NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement, teams have a salary cap ceiling and floor, so teams must spend money more wisely. This means it is more likely that general managers will offer a contract to a younger player with potential that their team does not see as much value in matching, rather saving money for other players.[4] This also leads to teams signing their own players to long-term contracts before they are eligible for restricted free agency, possibly locking them in at a lower rate than they will have to pay later, depending on each player's future performance.[5][2][6]
[edit] Players signing offer sheets
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ NHLSCAP.com details about offer sheets
- ^ a b Russo, Michael. "Wild Insider: The offer sheet shuffle", Star Tribune, 2007-10-29. Retrieved on 2007-11-13.
- ^ Coffey, Phil. "Flyers make move on Kesler", NHL.com, 2006-09-13. Retrieved on 2007-11-13.
- ^ Brehm, Mike. "Ducks irked as Penner lands big deal with Oilers", USA Today, 2007-08-02. Retrieved on 2007-11-13.
- ^ Burnside, Scott. "Lowe's offer sheet tactic could soon become the norm", ESPN.com, 2007-08-13. Retrieved on 2007-11-13.
- ^ Allen, Kevin. "Time for teams to lock up players, prevent raids", USA Today, 2007-10-11. Retrieved on 2007-11-13.
